A family from County Laois, Ireland, are currently serving a six month prison stretch for failure to comply with a court order imposed last year over an illegal landfill operation.
Mr Michael Scully, of Scully Skip Hire, along with his wife Eileen and son Richard, received the High Court Order from Mr Justice Michael Peart, which stated that they must cease their illegal landfill operation on lands at Knockacarin, Timahoe. They were also ordered to transfer all waste from the area to an authorised facility and to then remediate the land.
Failing to comply with the order, a warrant for all three arrests was actioned efficiently by Abbeyleix Gardai early last month. Since then, the family have resided at Mountjoy Prison.
The jail sentence had originally been suspended for twelve months, under the condition that the necessary work be completed to reverse the damage caused by the illegal activity. Senior engineer, John O'Donoghue, of the Council's environment section, said that the imprisonment of the Scully family for being in contempt of court was their least favoured option.
As many as twenty-six court hearings later, the Scully’s have still not complied with the order and the landfill site is yet to be returned to \agricultural ground.
The Judge described the scale of the pollution caused as “truly enourmous”.
